How to Tame That Gentle Male Lead - Chapter 3.13
The black mana that climbed up some nobles’ feet and settled near their hearts soon began to spread through their blood vessels.
“You. You came prepared.”
Eldis shouted fiercely. The knights held their swords, surrounding the Emperor with utmost loyalty, their eyes expecting Eldis’s exploits.
A smile spread across Zergard’s lips.
This won’t be easy. But he had no intention of breaking through the Grand Sword Master and his army.
‘Anyway, I’m just here to warn them now.’
A warning that the Empire would soon be overrun with black magic.
Eldis furrowed his brow as he saw the corners of the mouth rising under the hood, despite the black mask. An ominous feeling ran down his back.
“Protect His Majesty the Emperor!”
Eldis, not leaving the Emperor’s side, launched sword auras. Zergard dodged with teleportation. The magician was so skillful that it was frustratingly adept.
‘He’s not an opponent to be taken lightly. Somehow, I must make him retreat.’
“Hahaha. As expected, the Grand Sword Master’s attacks are indeed sharp. I might lose my head if I’m not careful.”
The black magician mocked, appearing in multiple places. The knights who had to move instead of Eldis and his army, who couldn’t leave the Emperor’s side, couldn’t move recklessly from their positions for fear the black magician might harm the nobles.
“Renard.”
Seeing Eldis engaged in a battle with Zergard, Resena tugged at the sleeve of Renard, who was blocking her way. Since Renard didn’t have a sword, he had wrapped his entire body with a stronger aura to block the approach of the black mana.
Of course, at the same time, he was observing the magician’s movement patterns. At any moment, if he could disrupt the black magician’s pattern, the Grand Sword Master Eldis would not miss the opening to strike down the black magician.
‘If we can just make him retreat, we win.’
This was already the answer they had discussed. In the first case, if the black magician was at a level Eldis could handle alone, Renard would watch for an opening from behind and strike as previously discussed. Secondly, if it seemed difficult for Eldis to handle alone while protecting His Majesty, they planned to cooperate to inflict a fatal wound on the black magician.
“What is it, sister?”
“Somehow, it seems that black magician is dodging mainly around the positions where the chandeliers are hung? Even a tower master would find it difficult to teleport at such high speed, could it be that he’s set points in advance and is dodging in order?”
This was a guess only Resena could make, having seen Zergard’s attacks several times in the previous regression. Renard, feeling that her words hit the mark, focused his eyes to observe Zergard.
Indeed, as his sister said, there was a certain order to the positions Zergard was dodging to. He moved from the rightmost chandelier to the third chandelier, then teleported to the very end.
And after moving to the second chandelier, that pattern above was repeated again.
“He must have set up some device on the chandeliers.”
“It seems so. Thanks, sister.”
Renard prepared to launch an aura with his fist. Although not as much as Eldis, he could launch an aura with bare hands, so he tensed his body, crouched, and then stretched out, launching an aura to where he thought the next dodge would be.
“Huh?!”
Zergard tried to teleport for a moment but was a beat too late. And Eldis was not one to miss such an opening.
“Well done, Young Duke Arnasus!”
Zergard’s expression hardened at Eldis’s aura that instantly engulfed him. He tried to block the aura by concentrating black mana on both arms, but a Grand Sword Master’s aura was not something that could be blocked.
Swoosh.
“Urgh… You bastards!”
Zergard, the leader of the black magicians, had never thought he would be injured so easily. Moreover, the situation where both his arms were instantly cut off while dodging an attack from a Sword Master, not even a Grand Sword Master, was unexpected even for him.
Thud-.
His severed arms fell from midair and bounced on the floor. In an instant, Zergard, breaking out in a cold sweat, turned his gaze to his cut arms. If the severed arms weren’t reattached immediately, it would strain his magic casting and he would eventually be defeated.
‘Retreat…!’
In an instant, the black mana controlling the outside of the ballroom was absorbed into Zergard’s severed arms. Without this, he couldn’t reattach his arms, so Zergard gritted his teeth and disappeared from the leftmost chandelier.
“The, the door…”
“It’s opening…! We’re saved!”
Except for some people who had absorbed black mana, there were no serious injuries.
The Sword Experts mixed among the knights sighed in relief as they watched the nobles rushing out. The knights outside had drawn their swords in the emergency situation and were scrutinizing the nobles’ faces tensely, not knowing how it had been resolved.
“Fortunately, thanks to you, sister, we were able to make him retreat. Sister, thank you so much.”
Resena was pleased to hear Renard speak with a bright smile. In her previous life, while Zergard was buying time, many people had absorbed an enormous amount of black mana, resulting in a tremendous number of deaths. But in this life, Zergard had taken the black mana itself, so people would be fine soon after receiving healing from the temple.
“That’s great. But I didn’t absorb any black mana. It’s thanks to you protecting me… I should tell His Highness Eldis. To order the nobles to receive healing from the temple.”
The prepared theatrical lines had become useless, but she had gained Eldis’s trust beforehand, so it wasn’t such a losing deal. Above all, she was happy that innocent people wouldn’t die.
“Lady Arnasus. Are you alright?”
As Eldis approached, Resena answered gracefully with a faint smile.
“I’m fine. Renard protected me.”
“I’m glad. Renard. Thank you for protecting the Lady.”
Renard grinned and wrapped his arm around his sister’s shoulders.
“It was nothing. Rather, it was because my sister figured out the black magician’s pattern that I was able to assist Your Highness earlier.”
“Pattern?”
Eldis’s eyes filled with curiosity.
His rippling water-colored eyes gazed at Resena. Honestly, she was embarrassed, but Resena moved her lips.
“Earlier, that black magician was teleporting only to the positions of the chandeliers. Moreover, there was a pattern where he moved from the rightmost chandelier to the third chandelier, and then teleported to the very end. There were other patterns too, but… this one was the most noticeable.”
Eldis stared at Resena with surprised eyes.
“How did you figure that out?”
